Apparatus for measuring gas pressures



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Mar. 13, 1923.

W. G. HOUSKEEPER.

APPARATUS FOR MEASURING GAS PRESSURES.

FILED JULY 14.1917- 7'0P0mp z Patented Mar. 13, E923.

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WKLLIAM G.

lPO TION OF YORK.

HOUSKEEPER, 01E PLA'DELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO ELECTRIC COMPANY, INCORPORATED, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A COB- APPARATUS FOR MEASURING lElRlESSURES.

To all whomit may concern Be it'known thatl, WILLIAM G. Hous- KEEPER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia, and State ofiPennsylvania, have invented certain newand useful 'lmrovements in Apparatus for Measuring Gas l ressures, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description.

This invention relates to'apparatus for measuring gas pressure, and in particular for measuring minute ressures, such as are present in vacuum tu s used for electric lamps and the like.

Its object is to provide a morecon'venient method, than has-heretofore been employed for measuring such pressures. A further object is to provide a device which indicates continuously the degree of evacuation in a vessel. g

in accordance with this. invention, a resistance is inserted in the vacuum to be measured and means is provided for passing a current therethrough. The temperature to which the resistance will be heated by. said current will depend upon the amount of heat radiatedinto space, and the -amount conducted away by'the lead wires and by the particles of air surrounding the resistance. The amount lost by radiation and the amount conducted away by the leadwires will, for a giventemperature be independent of the degreef of evacuation of the-vessel containing the resistance, but the resistance of which changes with tempera-- amount-oi heat carried away by the air, par- .aaag win, of course, be proportional to the-number of air particles present in a unit volume of the vessel. which the resistance is raised by a given current, therefore, depends upon the degree of evacuation of the vessel. If, now, said resistance is composed of a substance, the

ture, then it follows that the value of the resistance in said vessel will be an indication of the degree of evacuation present.

Inasmuch as one of the most sensitive and reliable methods of measuring resistances or indicating changes in resistances is the Wheatstone bridge, I have made use of such Application filed July 14,

clusive. v

The temperature to 1917. Serial m5. reopen Wheatstone bridge arrangement of resistance's comprising the arms 7 to 10 inclusive. Between the points 13 and 14 are connected an adjustable resistance 15 and a source of current 16. Between the opposite points 17 and 18 are connected 9. suitable current measuring instrument 20 and an adjustable resistance 21. The resistances composing the Wheatstonc bridge are shown to be supported by the leading-in wires 23 to 26 in- 70. --In order that the device may work efficiently, it is preferable that the two pairs of resistances 7 and Band 9 and 10 should have appreciably difi'erent temperature toeflicients of resistance. This may be accomplished by having one pair, say 7 and 8, composed of a material, the resistance of which 7 increases with increase of temperature, and by having the other pair 9, and 10, composed of a material, the, resistance of which to either decreases with increase of temperature or has practically a zero coeflicient of change of resistance with temperature. When the four arms are so constructed for a given degree of evacuation that there is as a evacuation of said vessel, and the directional;

of the deflection will be an indication whether the change in the evacuation was an increase or a decrease. O

It is apparent that, having calibrated the "instrumentfor various known values of too prising a vessel containing gas subjected tov pressure in the evacuated vessel, the galvanometer scale may be made to read in any desired system of units; and b properly adjusting the resistances 15 an 21, the scale of the instrument may be varied so as to have any desired range.

In one embodiment of this invention one pair. of resistances 7 and 8, for example, was made of platinum, which has a positive temperature coeflicient of resistance and the other arms -9 and 10 are composed of 'nichrome, the resistance of which does not change with temperature, but it is to be un-' preciable extent at ordinary pressures,v where there is enough oxygen present in theenclosing vessel to produce oxidation. Otherwise the Wheatstone bridge would need frequent adjustment because of the resistance of the various arms changing as they are oxidized. However, if non-oxidizable materials are employed, the construction of this invention ma be employed to indicate continuously the, egree of pressure existing in a vessel from the time the evacuationis started at atmospheric pressure until the vessel has been evacuated to a pressure as low as 10 mm. or even lower.

' What is claimed is:

1. Means for measuring gas pressure comprising a. vessel containing a plurality of resistance elements having different temperature coefficients of resistance.

2. Means for measuring pressures coma pressure bearing a known relation to that to be measured, and a Wheatstone bridge network in said vessel.

3. vMeans for measuring'gas pressure comprising a vessel the interior of which is subject to the pressure to be measured, aplurality of resistance elements therein, means for supplying current to said elements, and

means for measuring changes in resistance in one of said elements due to changes in the temperature.

4:. Means for measuring gas-pressure comprising a vessel containing gas subjected to a pressure proportional to that to be measured, a plurality of reslstance elements there n, means for heating said elements,

andmeans formeasuring the resistance of one of said elements.

5. Means for measuring gas pressure comprising a vessel containing a resistance element having a zero temperature coeflicient of resistance. y r

6. In apparatus for measuring vacua, the combination. with an evacuated vessel of a Wheatstone bridge network therein.

7 Means for measuring gas pressure comprising a Wheatstone bridge in which the resistance elements of the arms do not all have the same temperature coefficient of resistance.

8. Means for measuring gas pressure comprising a vessel containing a conductive network having a plurality of branches, a source of current for said network, anda calibrated current indicating instrument attached to said network whereby the pressure is continuously indicated.-

containing resistances having unequal temperature coe-flicients of resistance, a source of current for said network, and means connected to said network and adapted to detect the changein the resistance of said network due to a change in the evacuation of said vessel.

12. An evacuated vessel containing a Wheatstone bridge network, said network containing resistances having unequal temperature coefficients of resistance, a source of current for said network whereby the resistances having unequal temperature coefiicients may be heated, and a measuring instrument connected to said network and adapted to measure changes in'theevacuation of said vessel due to the resulting changes in the values of said resistances.

13. The combination with an evacuated vessel, of apparatus for measuring the pressure within said vessel, said apparatus comprising a vessel containing four resistances arranged in the form of a Wheatstone bridge network, said resistances having unequal temperature coeflicients, a source of current connected between two opposite junctions of said resistances, and a measuring instrument connected between the other two junctions.

14. Means for measuring pressure comprising a vessel, the interior of which is subject to the pressure to be measured, a,

plurality of resistance elements therein, said 5 resistanoe elements being composed of material non-oxidizable at ordinary pressures, means for heating said elements and means for measuring the resistance of one of said elements.

In witness whereof, I hereunto Subscribe 10 my7name this twelfth day of July, A. D. 191

WILLI e. HQUS EEPER; 

